Fellowship takes centre stage at dance awards

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Stephen Page missed out on the two awards he was nominated for
at last night's annual dance awards, but that was of little
importance.

There was a far bigger triumph to be savoured: a new memorial to
his late brother.

At the 2004 Australian Dance Awards at the Opera House Page, the
artistic director of Bangarra Dance Theatre, announced that Antony
Hamilton was the inaugural recipient of the Russell Page Fellowship
for contemporary dance.

Russell Page took his life on July 15 last year after the final
performance of Bangarra's acclaimed Walkabout.

The fellowship, to be presented annually, will support an
emerging or mid-career contemporary dancer with up to $10,000 a
year.

The fellowship began to take shape a year ago when five of the
country's leading dance companies got together at Sydney Theatre in
Walsh Bay to celebrate Page's life and raise money to establish a
scholarship.

Bangarra planned to donate the proceeds from at least one show
in its Sydney season next year to keep the project going, Page
said.

Hamilton, who performs with Chunky Move, looks to be a worthy
winner, notching up an impressive working record with stints with
the Australian Dance Theatre, Kage Physical Theatre and various top
choreographers.

There were other triumphs for Page, with Bangarra sharing the
limelight this year with the Australian Dance Theatre in Adelaide
winning awards for the best female dancer (Larissa McGowan for
Held) and for outstanding performance by a company.

Patrick Thaiday of Bangarra shared with Paul Zivkovich of the
Australian Dance Theatre the award for outstanding performance by a
male dancer. Thaiday won for his performance in Unaipon,
while Zivkovich won for his standout turn in Held.

Julie Dyson took out the award for lifetime achievement.

Narelle Benjamin won the award for dance on film for I Dream
of Augustine.

Unaipon, the dazzling semi-abstract work on the life of
the Aboriginal scientist, writer and thinker David Unaipon, earned
Bangarra's Frances Rings the award for outstanding performance in
choreography.

Although it felt a "little premature" given this was only her
second major work, Rings said, it was a welcome boost to the
collective profile of female choreographers, with Lucy Guerin, Kate
Champion, Bernadette Walong, Sue Healey and many others now getting
the plaudits they deserved.

Like Page, Rings saw the launch of the Russell Page fellowship
as the biggest triumph of the night. "I think it's such a
wonderful, inspirational project," she said. "Russell was so into
his own children, and children in the audience; he always wanted to
talk to them and to encourage younger dancers. Dance was his life,
it was where he felt most alive ... Hopefully the dancers who win
it will be able to get a bit of his spirit, the special qualities
he had in him."